


Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind

by orphan_account



Series: She Keeps Me Warm [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Canon Era, F/F, Fluff, Girls Kissing, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Shoes, cosette's first french kiss, misusing musical lines, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-08
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 14:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1174292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I would never admit it to anyone but you, but I had waited to see you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is kind of a sequel to this could be good but i guess you could read it without reading the rest

You next visited me on the last day of the year. The snow had all melted, but I still shivered when I left the house to wander the gardens, even with my winter fur cloak.

 

I would never admit it to anyone but you, but I had waited to see you. I came outside almost every day, waiting for a glimpse of your shining eyes or your bony limbs. I kept repeating the moments we spent together in my head; seeing your eyes meet mine and the way your breath had sped up slightly. I know I did the same.

 

I lingered by the gate, before turning to return to the house, when I heard a faint rustling just beyond the bushes and brick wall that separated my garden from the rest of the world. I turned rapidly, my eyes widening, and saw you pushing your way through the cold, rusting bars of the gate.

 

"Éponine!" I cried, allowing those sacred syllables to grace my lips for the first time. I had heard them uttered in my head daily since you told me, but only then did I say them.

 

"Cosette," you said, barely even breathing my name.

 

I noticed you shake, even though you tried to hide it. "Dear God above, Éponine, you must be freezing!"

 

You smiled guiltily. "This is all I have. My pa buggered off with the only pair of shoes we have."

 

"Only one pair of shoes?" I exclaimed. "That must be awful!"

 

"We're used to it," you said, shrugging. "Not like we can go out and buy any."

 

I shook my head, taking your hand. "That won't do. Come, Éponine."

 

You obeyed, looking shocked. You seemed even more surprised as I took off my boots and changed them to the silk slippers I kept at the door before parading you through the house carelessly.

 

"What're you doing?" you asked. "What about your papa and your Toussaint?"

 

"Papa is on a journey, so he is unlikely to be here until the third day of the new year, and Toussaint is at the market," I assuredly replied.

 

You nodded and seemed to relax a little. I counted that as a victory.

 

You did not remain that way for long, however. You looked around the room that I had taken you to and seemed taken aback. "Is this your bedroom?"

 

"Yes," I replied.

 

You shook your head and began to back away slowly. "This ain't right, 's not good…"

 

"Why?" I said, worried.

 

You looked at me. You were an inch taller than me when I hadn't heeled shoes on. "You are a flower, Cosette. A rosebud, not yet bloomed. I am tainted. This is your sanctuary, where you sleep and wash. I'm afraid that I can't be here."

 

I laughed and shook my head. "Éponine, you do this far too often! Sometimes, you treat me as though I am a flower, and begin to spout poetry that is more beautiful than that of Shakespeare. Please, 'Ponine, treat me as another girl."

 

"I can't, though!" you almost shouted. Your hoarse voice cracked. "I can't. You're beautiful, and I bring everything and everyone I love down. I can't help it. I'll drag you down into this life of humiliation I lead and you'll hate me for it."

 

I took you to my bathroom and began to boil water on the fireplace in there. You protested, but I pressed a finger to your lips in response.

 

"Éponine, I will soar like a bird if you continue to see me. I will fly to Heaven and see the face of God if you kiss me like we did the first time we met."

 

You looked up at me, your brown eyes widening and your lips falling open. I captured them in a lingering kiss. When I moved away from you, you looked as though you had been branded, and I suppose I looked the same.

 

I moved away slowly to fetch the kettle I was using to heat up the water to put in the bath and poured it in. I added more water and set it in the flames again.

 

"My dear, you will fly with me," I said in a murmur. "I will see that your wings are strong enough for you to fly alongside me."

 

I filled the bath eventually, adding perfumes and soaps. Your clothing was removed hesitantly, leaving you bared before me. Your chest was almost hollow, and I could count every single one of your ribs. You sat in the bath awkwardly; rigid until I took a jug and began to clean your hair. We were silent, except for the swishing sound of the water as you shifted to allow me better access.

 

My hand accidentally brushed your tiny breast and you told me, "I've been fucked. I don't remember most of the men who did it and I didn't particularly enjoy it. But it was one way of making ends meet, and one way of staying out of trouble. I didn't know why posh people called it _making love_ until now."

 

I didn't know what to say, and stated that fact. You laughed.

 

"I wasn't really expecting you to. It was just something I thought you ought to know."

 

When you were free from the dust and grime of the streets, I wrapped you in my fluffy towel and dried your body slowly. When you shuddered, I paused, but you told me to go on but to-

 

"-be a bit more careful around those areas, Cosette."

 

I nodded, smirking.

 

When you were dry, I wrapped you in my silk robe and sat you on my bed, before opening one of my wardrobes' doors and fishing out a practical pair of ankle-height boots. They were brown, and made of soft leather. I slipped it onto your foot and laced them up. You beamed like a child being given a treat and wriggled your toes.

 

"It fits!" you exclaimed.

 

"It does!" I smiled.

 

You pulled me up from my chosen place between your legs and kissed me passionately.

 

It was the first time I had ever been kissed as the girls in the covenant had spoken of, with tongues and teeth and hands tangled in hair. We could have been doing so for hours and not noticed, but we had to break away far too soon.

 

Your cheeks were adorably red, and I kissed them as well. You grinned, your eyes creasing up, and I held you close.

 

"I have to go," you said after a while. I helped you shrug off my robe and dress back into your rags.

 

"Come back again soon," I said quietly.

 

-

 

You did.

 

A few minutes before the new year, when everyone had retired to their beds, I heard a knocking on my window.

 

I opened it and let you sit on my windowsill, and we chatted about everything and anything until the church bells chimed midnight, when you kissed me again.


End file.
